


The Cunning Little Tailor

by Masked_Tactician



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bear - Freeform, M/M, Marriage, Riddles, fairy tale AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 23:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7660846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masked_Tactician/pseuds/Masked_Tactician
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off the fairy tale with the same name by The Brothers Grimm<br/>There was once on a time a prince who was extremely proud. If a wooer came, he gave them a riddle to guess, and if could not find it out, they were sent contemptuously away. He let it be made known also that whoever solved his riddle should marry him, let them be who they might.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cunning Little Tailor

There was once on a time a prince who was extremely proud. If a wooer came, he gave them a riddle to guess, and if could not find it out, they were sent contemptuously away. He let it be made known also that whoever solved his riddle should marry him, let them be who they might. 

-

Rhett swept the floor of his family's simple house. His two elder brothers worked as tailors, just as their father did. Rhett, however, couldn't follow the trade, let alone understand it. Instead, he would help his mother with the house chores, which was only appreciated by her. Together, they would cook and clean for the two elder brothers, and the house knew this as routine. 

Once the kingdom had heard news of the prince's proposition, everyone in their little town who was unmarried traveled to the castle, only to come back still unmarried. Months passed, yet not one could answer the prince's riddle. Rhett's two brothers decided that they would go to the castle. They had done such amazing, successful work, so how could they fail to succeed in this as well? Their mother made sure that they wore the right clothes and had enough food for the journey. 

"I'm going too, mother." Rhett decided. The two elder brothers laughed, but stopped once their mother shot them a look. Sure, Rhett was a bit useless when it came to tailoring, but that didn't mean he knew nothing. He might even come upon some luck in this venture. 

"Just stay at home; you cannot do much with your little bit of understanding." The brothers said at the same time. Their mother shushed them. She made sure that all three of her sons were properly dressed, and well prepared. After they said their goodbyes, the three left. Rhett felt as if nothing cold stop him and that he owned the world. He was going to answer the riddle correctly and win the prince's heart.

-

Prince Link sighed as he slumped in his throne. Even though he knew no one would ever give him the correct answer, it stopped being fun to send people away. It had been months now, yet there was still multitudes of people coming to the castle everyday. He almost wanted to take back his riddle, but his pride wouldn't let him. Not only that, but his father also wanted someone answer correctly so that his son could finally be married. 

It was a new day, which meant new faces, but more of the same wrong answers. He adjusted his attire to look presentable before crossing his legs. Three brothers were announced as skilled tailors, that their understandings are so fine that they could be threaded in a needle. Link smirked as they came into the throne room and bowed. 

"My, my! I should be the one bowing to you. I have no doubt in my mind that one - if not all - of you can answer my riddle, since your understandings are so fine that they could be threaded in a needle." he praised. The two elder brothers grinned and agreed with him, while the other just simply nodded. He cleared his throat.

"My riddle is simply this; I have two kinds of hair on my head, of what color is it?" 

The first brother stepped up and said, "If that be all, it must be black and white, like the cloth which is called pepper and salt." 

Link chuckled. Oh, how many times had he heard that one. He guessed that people answered this way because of his own black hair, but he would never make the answer so simple - no. He wouldn't get married over such a simple answer. 

"Wrongly guessed; let the second answer."

The second brother stepped up and said, "If it not be black and white, then it is brown and red, like my father's company coat." 

Link's smile only grew at this answer. 'Such a confident man, assuming your father is anywhere near a famed status.' 

"Wrongly guessed," said the prince, "Let the third give the answer, for I see very well he knows it for certain." 

Rhett looked at Link and cleared his throat. He thought for a few seconds. "The prince has a silver and golden hair on his head, and those are two different colors." he answered. Link merely chuckled again before realizing what the man had said. His face turned pale and he nearly fell out of his throne. No one had correctly guessed, but this little tailor managed to give him the correct response? The prince had truly thought that no person on Earth could discover it. Once he regained his composure, he said,

"You have not won me yet by that; there is still something else that you must do. Below, in the stable is a bear with which you shall pass the night, and when I get up in the morning if you are still alive, you shall marry me." Surely, no person would agree to spend the night with a bear. Yet the tailor smiled at him and agreed. 

"Boldly ventured is half won." he figured. 

-

When therefore the evening came, Rhett was led down to the bear. The bear was about to attack the fellow at once, and give him a hearty welcome with his paws.

“Softly, softly,” said the youngest tailor, “I will soon make you quiet.” Then quite composedly, and as if he had not an anxiety in the world, he took some nuts out of his pocket, cracked them, and ate the kernels. When the bear saw that, he wanted to have some nuts too. The tailor felt in his pockets, and reached him a handful; they were, however, not nuts, but pebbles. The bear put them in his mouth, but could get nothing out of them, let him bite as he would. 

“Eh!” thought he, “what a stupid blockhead I am! I cannot even crack a nut!” and then he said to the tailor, “Here, crack me the nuts.” 

Rhett laughed. “There, see what a stupid fellow you are!” said he, “to have such a great mouth, and not be able to crack a small nut!” Then he took the pebble and nimbly put a nut in his mouth in the place of it. He bit down as hard as he could, but not enough to hurt his teeth, and cracked the nut. He looked at the bear with an eyebrow raised. 

“I must try the thing again,” said the bear, “when I watch you, I then think I ought to be able to do it too.” So the tailor once more gave him a pebble, and the bear tried to bite into it with all the strength of his body. But he was not able to crack what he thought to be a nut. When the decided he would give up, the tailor took out a violin from beneath his coat, and played a piece of it to himself. When the bear heard the music, he could not help beginning to dance, and when he had danced a while, the thing pleased him so well that he said to the little tailor, “Is the fiddle heavy?” 

“Light enough for a child. Look, with the left hand I lay my fingers on it, and with the right I stroke it with the bow, and then it goes merrily, hop sa sa vivallalera!” 

“So,” said the bear, “fiddling is a thing I should like to understand too, that I might dance whenever I had a fancy. What do you think of that? Will you give me lessons?” 

“With all my heart,” said the tailor, “if you have a talent for it. But just let me see your claws." He looked at the bear's claws, though he didn't need to. He already had a plan and smirked. He then frowned as he looked at the bear. "They are terribly long, I must cut your nails a little.” 

The bear crinkled his nose at the thought of having his nails cut and took his hand away. Rhett looked at him with an expected eyebrow raised. The bear really did want to learn how to play, so he offered his paws again. Then a vise was brought, and the bear put his claws in it, and the little tailor screwed it tight, and said, “Now wait until I come with the scissors." He let the bear growl as he liked, and lay down in the corner on a bundle of straw, and fell asleep.

-

When Link heard the bear growling so fiercely during the night, he believed that he was growling for joy, and had made an end of the tailor. In the morning, he arose careless and happy, but when he peeped into the stable, the tailor stood gaily before him. That tailor was as healthy as a fish in water. Now he could not say another word against the wedding because he had given a promise before every one. He cursed his own luck and the tailor, but he refused to go back on his promise on. The King ordered a carriage to be brought in which he was to drive to church with the tailor, and there they were to be married. 

When they had got into the carriage, the two other tailors, who had false hearts and envied him his good fortune, went into the stable and unscrewed the bear again. The bear in great fury ran after the carriage. The prince heard him snorting and growling; he was terrified, and he cried, “Ah, the bear is behind us and wants to get you!” He clung to the tailor, worried for both of their lives. The tailor was quick and stuck his long legs out of the window, and cried, “Dost you see the vise? If you won't not be off you will be put into it again.” 

When the bear saw that, he turned round and ran away. The tailor drove quietly to church. Link apologized for his previous actions. He even dared to think that he had fallen in love with the clever tailor. Once they reached the church, the prince was married to him at once. The prince soon became king and the tailor was know as a woodlark. The two lived happily ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave any feedback!  
> Here is a link to the original story: https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/grimm/g86h/chapter114.html


End file.
